Project description
Multi-sensor methods to improve forest structure measurement
Forest structure changes in response to environmental factors and human activity. Accurate measurements are vital for understanding these changes and guiding policy on nature-based solutions. Consistent assessment across scales is essential. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the STRUCT project will evaluate multi-sensor methods for measuring forest structure and their consistency. It will include an analysis at a Belgian field site with a virtual model and extend to a European network of monitoring sites. The project will use radiative transfer modelling to simulate instrument responses and leverage existing infrastructure. It will integrate sensor data to improve estimates, identify optimal sensing systems, and assess the effectiveness of satellite data for measuring forest structure over time.
Objective
The structure of forests changes in response to environmental factors and human intervention (Calders et al 2020). It also determines the productivity capability of the forest, with corresponding impacts on the mass, momentum, and gas exchanges with the atmosphere (Béland et al., 2019). As such, it is key that measurements of forest structure are accurate and fit-for-purpose to enable understanding of forest structural changes and their underlying causes, as well as provide critical input into policy decisions related to nature-based solutions in the context of global change. Central to this is a measurement system capable of assessing these structural metrics at various scales such that each is consistent.
The main aim of this research proposal is to assess the ability of multi-sensor approaches to measure forest structure and determine the consistency between these. This is both in the ability for a single measurement to be representative and for temporal changes to be discerned. This will be addressed in two parts: the first will be a detailed analysis at a field site within Belgium which has a corresponding virtual forest model (i.e. digital twin); the second part will extend this to a wider European network of sites used for forest structure monitoring. This will draw on radiative transfer modelling to simulate instrument responses in relation to the knowable true quantities and apply these insights to real measurement systems. Similarly, the project will utilise pre-existing infrastructure: an instrumented site in Belgium and a wider network of sites. As well as the overall aim of the project, several research questions will be addressed: 1) how can information from different sensors be combined to create better estimates of forest structural metrics? 2) what is the optimal sensing system to measure forest structural traits at different scales? and 3) what is the ability of satellite data to address temporal forest structural measurements at global scales?
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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9000 Gent
Belgium
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